Quit hating on soccer and just appreciate the U.S. team

I think it is safe to say that “soccer is boring and it sucks” has become a played-out commentary. If you don’t like soccer, I get it, but I think the World Cup is way different.

For me, World Cup soccer is much different than soccer in general. Do you watch swimming or track and field at any other time other than the Summer Olympics? However, you pull for Michael Phelps and the Americans during the Olympics so why should it be any different for the World Cup whether you like soccer or not.

And I hate to throw this into the middle of this blog entry, but how many of you were watching the U.S. vs. Algeria and getting flashbacks to Texans? Here was a team with so many opportunities to win and reach that next level but they couldn’t quite do it until the very end when they pulled it out. It’s your turn, Texans.

I have developed an appreciation of soccer and I think their athleticism and precision passing and shooting are incredible. With that said, I pretty much shut it down after the World Cup is over. The MLS has a great opportunity to grow their sport with every U.S. win, but as long as their venues remain subpar and as long as the top U.S. talent heads overseas, the MLS is going to have a hard time growing in popularity as quickly as they would like.

But for the moment, I don’t care about the MLS and its growth. I’m looking forward to the U.S. battle against Ghana on Saturday and judging by the responses on Twitter, at sports bars and with television ratings, you are looking forward to the “match” as well.

46 Responses

The guys on the US soccer team play with passion and a love of the game. Those gutless turds on the Texans play for a check. As many as half don’t REALLY care if they win or lose…you know it and I know it. Night and day comparison Z.

Pretty much just a cheap shot. The Texans aren’t the Rams and YOU know it.

The guys on the US soccer team play with passion and a love of the game. Those gutless turds on the Texans play for a check. As many as half don’t REALLY care if they win or lose…you know it and I know it. Night and day comparison Z.

Its a chicken-and-egg situation with American Soccer talent and the MLS; as long as soccer is second or third tier as far as spectators, meaning as long as the money isn’t there then the elite players will go to where the money is. If MLS can get to the point where they can compete financially with European or larger South American teams, it will get more top flight players and become a top flight league.

I just don’t see it happening in my lifetime. I hope I’m wrong, though!

Would I call myself a soccer fan before the world cup? Casual at best…my learning and understanding of the rules came from playing the video game. During and after the world cup, will I call myself a fan? Casual At best. I may not make a concerted effort to see champion’s league, but if it is in a bar and on, i probably will watch with a little more interest. I just want to refute the fact that soccer can never be a popular US sport. The more David Beckhams that come from Europe, and the more Americans that GO to Europe, only spread the quality of American Soccer. Does Donovan land that goal if he doesnt play in Champion’s League this past year? IT could be argued not. For this sport to flurish, we need more than a Women’s World Cup victory or two, no offense ladies, but when it all boils down, nobody cares after the fact. If the men’s team were to pull a “miracle on ice” and win teh world cup, it would be by far the greatest American sporting accomplishment EVER in the history of Sport. Greater than Michael Phelps, greater than the 1980 olympic team…it would transcend time and put America on the Proverbial Soccer Map, plain and simple. There is nothing that America(ns) like more than to be great. And to conquer a sport/tournament that we are thought of as inferior, a sport that only has a total of 5-6 DIFFERENT champions, would propel soccer at least past Hockey in the USA. Before the World Cup, would I call myself a fan of America? Before, during and After – forever and always…now lets go kick some Ghana arse, and avenge our fall in the 2006 WC. WAR USA!!!!!!!!!!

I feel exactly the same way about WC soccer. To me it’s like an “all-in” Olympics — like having all the various Olympic events boiled down to one winner-take-all contest, with all the emotions wrapped up together in one huge ball. I could eventually see it becoming at least my 2nd favorite sport behind football. It’s already probably my number 3 favorite “thing” in sports behind the NFL football season and March Madness.

That is EXACTLY how I feel. It is my 3rd favorite EVENT. Well, the BCS national championship is right there too for me but the WC has an advantage because it is a month long and there is so much on the line in every match.

I completely agree. Soccer sucks. In today’s Paraguay vs NZ game, one the teams had no shots on goal and the other team didn’t score…….

Soccer isn’t like hockey in which not a lot of goals are scored. Because in hockey there are a lot of scoring chances (15 to 40), and in soccer not so much.

BUT, because of the global interest in the World Cup, you have to follow all that intensity, even if it is about nothing. Kind of reminds one of Jerry Seinfeld, no? A high level of interest in something based on nothing.

It’s the global nationalism which stirs the blood and this year that includes the US!

I…. uh….. kind of….. think we agree….. to an extent. I think the lack of scoring opportunities, which is hounded by non-soccer fans (including me in the past) actually creates more intensity when there is one. I get the same feeling when there is a low scoring football or baseball game where you know that one TD or one run could end up making all the difference in the world since the defense/pitching is shutting the offense down. I do see your point though. Nationalism is working overtime right now for many people which is still cool to me. I haven’t cared one single percentage point about swimming since Phelps and co. finished off the Olympics, but I was jumping up and down in my living room during the final leg of the relay.

As a soccer player throughout my youth and a long-time fan of the sport, I don’t get the need of soccer haters to go out of their way to express their disdain for the sport. If you don’t like it, fine, we all have things we don’t care about.

I don’t care at all about golf, for example, but I can’t conceive of having so little to do that I would go onto an article about a golf tournament and bash the sport just for the hell of it. Yet every soccer article online, or discussion on the radio, just wouldn’t be complete without the requesite anti-soccer troll stirring the pot.

On the flip side of the coin, I am also annoyed (although to a much lesser extent) by soccer fans and pundits who are constantly talking about “growing the game” and are obsessed with trying to gauge the growing popularity of the sport in the US. It shows a little bit of insecurity on their part and probably fuels the trolls to a certain extent.

THANK YOU. The analogy to the Olympics is spot-on. Be happy that USA is doing well in the tournament so far. We’re not asking you to buy Dynamo season tickets.

There are several fundamental problems with MLS and the state of American soccer. As you said, the best American players don’t play in America. 6 members of the US squad play in MLS. Compare that to the English, Dutch, and German teams. My gripe for years is that MLS is not on the FIFA schedule. Every meaningful league in the world is currently in their offseason. And the club development academies have a long way to go towards consistently producing home-grown, top-flight talent. These problems won’t be solved overnight, but here’s hoping the USA’s continued success in South Africa gives them a kick in the right direction.

I get so agitated when people go out of there way to b!@#$ about soccer. If you don’t like it then fine. Don’t waste my time complaining about it.

The MLS has a long way to go, but it’s not near as far down the totem pole relative to other leagues that some people think it is. It has had steady growth, and is starting to get a lot more soccer specific venues being purpose built. It will take time, but as salaries increase we will see more and more talent stay. It will hard to ever be considered the top league though, because MLS doesn’t get to be a part of the Top tournaments like the Champions league in Europe.In other words, young talent leaving is just something we are going to have to deal with on some level.

As far as how that relates to the viability and popularity of MLS…you still watch college football and basketball don’t you? I know you don’t have the history and tradition in the MLS. You also don’t have the pretense of “student Athletes” but it’s the same basic concept. Actually some college football players probably make significantly more than many MLS players. Any way it’s about Proving that you are ready for the next level. I hated to see Rico and Stuart leave the Dynamo, but at the same time I was very proud to see a couple of guys who will always be “Houston Dynamo” in my mind get”drafted”. Especially because I knew that it would benefit the US national team in the long run.

I’ve been loving the World Cup! I totally agree that it’s the one time Americans can really embrace soccer and find real enjoyment from it.

Let me preface my next statement by saying I know absolutely nothing about soccer – but wouldn’t eliminating the offsides rule add a ton of scoring and make the game between 5 and 57 times more exciting? As Americans, who do we have to bully into making this happen?

If you like soccer that’s fine with me but I don’t watch the Ryder Cup either. It’s like Cowboy fan telling me I should root for them because they’re from Texas. I don’t like being told what I should watch or support.

That’s kind of my point as well. Nobody is saying you have to support soccer or even the United States. I guess people just get sick of getting crapped on for cheering for the US or even talking about the World Cup. It doesn’t make any sense for someone just to come right out and say “I hate soccer” when that isn’t even part of the conversation that is being had. I hate Twilight but I don’t sit and type about it all the time on the blog. No need.

i didn’t play soccer until i was in my 30s, but those few years out on the pitch made me really appreciate the game and the skills required. highly recommend playing it a little bit for those who haven’t. it makes watching soccer a lot more interesting.

Agree one hundred percent. I’m in Scotland right now for work and I can assure you, watching the WC in a pub here right now is fantastic. The excitement level is remarkably high because of the stakes. When the US scored at the end, the pub I was in erupted.

Though I will say that watching the MLS after watching the WC is like watching guys play in mud and f&*^ those vuvuzelas…..

When people complain about low scores in soccer, I wonder if their interest would increase if a higher value was assigned to a goal. For example, if a goal equalled 7 points instead of 1, a 2 – nil score would be 14-0, like in a football game in the US. Would that make a difference in terms of interest? Somehow I doubt it.

You get it, it is the suspense. The build up to the goal. Each goal means so much and this creates tension. One mistake can mean the difference between winning and losing. What’s exciting about basketball besides the last 2 minutes? Each point has so little meaning. You see some amazing feats on the court, but you see them on the pitch as well. I’m not surprised by some of the comments from fans who would rather watch a 16-14 slugfest than a 1-0 pitcher’s duel.

Good soccer is like good nookie…it builds up, then slows down, builds up then slows down, builds up, then slows down until finally you get…uhhmmmm, well, you know. And Donovan’s goal was one big g O al if you know what I mean. Basketball is wham bam thank you ma’am the money is on the dresser. As Eddie Murphy said “that’s right, I @$#%@$ her, I make love to you”. Soccer is makin’ sweet love. I gotta go…

I like it when the games end in a tie. That way no one has to go home a loser. In the end the self esteem of all the participants is what really matters. Oh, and the giant kazoos, they’re so adorable.

Just kidding, I know those are cheap shots. Truth is I’m planning on heading over to a get-together this Saturday just to watch the game. USA all the way!

…But it was up to me I’d make the goals a shade wider. Don’t touch the dimensions of the field, just the goalposts. That way you maintain the integrity of the passing, and the endurance of the athletes must remain at an elite level. You simply widen the goal posts by 10%. The scoring would increase to an ideal level, and the sport would explode in North America.

If the average score of a soccer game was in the 7-5 range, the result would be revolutionary in this country.

Of course it will never happen. Too many traditionalists in FIFA, but if they wanted to make one change that would launch the popularity of soccer in to the stratosphere, that would be it.

I realize the rest of the World doesn’t need this change to increase interest in the sport, but it’s almost necessary here. We Americans like our offense. We like to see a dozen TD’s in a football game, and we may fall in love with futbol if they’d just tweak the rules a bit. Not a lot, just a little.

Games get more exciting >>> Bigger $$$ follow the sport >>> Talent pool expands >>> Games get more exciting >>> Bigger $$$ follow the sport >>> Talent pool expands >>> and so on, and so forth

I don’t usually watch soccer, but it does kinda have something in common with baseball: both have long stretches of strategic maneuvering that are interesting only to the real fan. But when the scoring happens, it really rocks. Scoring plays in soccer stand up to just about anything.

appreciate what? a last minute score against algeria to avoid elimination and a shutout?

basically an own goal against england to avoid a shutout?

beating slovakia or slovenia or whatever that place is nobody cares about?

i’ll be watching. just dont make it out to be a great sport, or that the best team prevails, or that the u.s. is that good.

0-0 for over an hour and a half in a must win, against algeria?? scintillating stuff!

wake me up when they start doing penalty kicks.

“Just don’t make it out to be a great sport”. Oh okay. Your opinion on the matter has now become fact. Got it. We’ll make sure and bow our heads and avert our eyes when you walk by in deference to your opinions on a sport.

I used to be a soccer hater for a while and then when I watched the ’06 World Cup I became hooked on the sport. What makes the sport, for me, compelling is precisely the reason so many people hate it. The lack of scoring is what makes it unique. One mistake, one moment of brilliance and skill is all that it takes.

In the NBA, one blown assignment or spectacular play by Kobe or Lebron is after all only two points. In the grand scheme of things is really irrelevant.

Same thing in football, one blown coverage or pick six is not that big of a deal unless, as you said, its a defensive struggle.

What I can’t understand is the people that hate soccer and call it boring, but are willing to pay good money to go watch a baseball in July? If you are going to hate soccer, how can you love baseball?

More than anything, what I find so refreshing about it is the lack of commercials and stoppages in play. You are going to spend at max 2 hours to watch a game and the only commercials you see is at half time. Compared to football and basketball which are really glorified commercials. How can a sport that is 48 minutes in length take three hours to complete? When I attended my first pro football and college game the thing I noticed more than anything was how often the players just stood around doing nothing and waiting for the TV timeout to end.

All you sports fans who hate soccer for it’s “being boring” have to just shut up.

It is the one watchable sport on TV because it doesn’t have THREE MINUTE commercial breaks every five minutes!! MLB, NBA, and NFL do this, and kill all the atmosphere off.

With soccer, you have singing and chanting uninterrupted by yet another bud light commercial, while having the pleasure of watching athletes of far higher caliber than baseball, football or basketball.

If you doubt soccer’s excitement, then come out to a dynamo game some time and sit with the Texian Army, best sporting experience in the city BY FAR

That’s about right. I watch soccer every four years and can only stand to sit through 3 full games, because that’s all we really ever manage to get. This year was 3 minutes away from being like all the other times until, the most amazing soccer goal was ever scored in my young soccer memory. EPIC to a completely unintelligent soccer fan such as myself… one step for man… one giant leap for mankind…

Awesome post, I couldn’t agree more, if you hate something so much why would you bother going on its blog and stating so??? What point are you making.

Now I think soccer is great and the World Cup is March Madness in June. Plus the added fact of you have a group of Americans who’ve worked their whole lives to get to this point in their sports career and they are a hard working, never say die lot. How could you not cheer for these guys.

I think that baseball has similar problems to soccer in terms of generating interest from non-knowledgeable fans. I grew up on baseball, I love baseball, but there’s not usually a whole lot of actual game transforming action in a baseball game, and what action there is is usually separated by gaps where basically nothing ulimately consequential transpires. It’s easy for that to be deathly boring to someone who doesn’t understand the battles between the pitchers, catchers, and batters.

Trying to explain why baseball is interesting to a non-knowledgeable fan is pretty daunting. I’ve tried it and failed.

Soccer has plenty going on much of the time, but very little of it translates directly into scoring, which makes it a challenge to the non-fan generally.

I could do without the “Who cares?” comments that inevitably come out with every soccer article, but people just can’t help it, I guess.

By the way, most MLS teams are either already playing in soccer-specific venues or have soccer-specific venues in their plans (I realize the Dynamo will share with TSU). Only New England, DC United, and Seattle play in NFL stadiums, so the situation has drastically improved for the league in general.

Well said Lance! I been living in London the past 4 years and can honestly say that I’ve become a big fan of ‘soccer’. It’s been amazing watching the world cup in a country that actually cares about the outcome. I only hope that the recent surge of the US team helps to broaden the popularity of the sport….at the very least for the national team during big competitions! I don’t know how many times I’ve heard from my European friends ‘shouldn’t we get back to playing sports that the rest of the world dosen’t compete in’. It’s been nice to rub it in their faces that not only did we advance but we won the group in the sport that they invented! The rest of the world is afraid of the sport gaining popularity in the US because they know that if some of our better athletes turn to ‘soccer’ instead of football & basketball we could become one of the world powers of the sport….not likely but as long as they are competitive I’ll be happy and give my support!

The rise of the U.S. national team is a direct result of it. Many of the players on the U.S. national team would be filler in the Premier or European leagues. In the MLS they get playing time and an opportunity to hone their skills.

Besides that 2006 MLS Cup was thrilling. It turned me back on to the sport.

The World Cup. Its the only event where people from different social classess and beliefs unite to cheer for thier country. Go to a viewing party and see the different type of individuals cheering for the USA. My god man it is something beautiful! Yet some radio hosts insist no one gives a crap! They feel that way because they try thier hardest to ignore the World Cup. This isnt MLS, its the FREAKING WORLD CUP! Instead of covering this beautiful event, they are interviewing former members of the Houston Gamblers and covering OTA’s. PRACTICE MAN!!!!! What are we talking about PRACTICE!!!! “Hi Im Warry Barner, I am here at OTA’s where Andre Johnson just drank some water after running half speed routes. I tell you Lich Rord, there is nothing more exciting going on in the world than this. Oh in other news, the US beat Algeria but no one gives a crap. Oh wait, Matt Shaub just stretched his legs.WOW! Exclusive coming up at the bottom of the hour”.

It goes both ways. Thanks for proving my point Ace. If asked if I like soccer I will give my opinion (no). I’ve been called ignorant, not a sports fan, unpatriotic, among other things. I’ve had a soccer fan tell me he hopes it takes over in the U.S. and all the other sports disappear. Don’t I know it’s the world’s game? I suggest you watch what you like, ignore the haters, and don’t hate back.

I have learned to appreciate soccer after seeing a few games in person but it is still hard for me to watch. It is just BORING! I have taken a look at the scores in the WC and there are a lot of scoreless ties and 1-0 games. And you do not see a lot of scoring chances. The last WC game I watched, which ended in a scoreless tie, I saw maybe five scoring chances total the entire 90 minutes.

In a hockey game, you will see five scoring chances within 10 minutes. And before anyone cracks on the scoreless ties in hockey, I have seen hundreds of hockey games and can could on one hand how many of them ended in a scoreless tie in regulation.

I do give soccer and the WC their due, I know it is a great game and great event. I just can not get into it like I do with football, hockey, and even baseball.

I often read but don’t think I’ve ever posted. LZ, you’re awesome! And I agree with you wholeheartedly! What motivated me post, though, was your excellent response to the ever-obstinate “lev.” I just had to express my appreciation for that, ha ha ha!

“Just don’t make it out to be a great sport”. Oh okay. Your opinion on the matter has now become fact. Got it. We’ll make sure and bow our heads and avert our eyes when you walk by in deference to your opinions on a sport.

LZ, I agree with you that the World Cup is the ultimate stage for a sport that you might not typically watch, and should therefore be seen in a different light. BUT you can hear the BUT…, can’t you?FIFA is a corrupt organization, much as unfortunately the IOC has become. Political shenanigans, blatant favoritism, and flagrant unaccountability are rampant.The issue with the ref and his calling a foul on the USA which prevented the winning goal is pretty much it for me. The ref doesn’t have to explain his calls, there is no recourse, and you’re not even allowed to complain about it?If that were the NFL, the league office in New York would have the commish up in front of the press to do damage control faster’n you can say “Pacman Jones,” but since it’s FIFA, not a peep.This is the way the rest of the world works – which is why most of the world looks like a back-alley in the Bronx – but we don’t play dat in the good ol’ US of A.

Oh wait, Matt Shaub just stretched his legs.WOW! Exclusive coming up at the bottom of the hour”. –Posted by: Richard Roma at June 25, 2010 08:58 AMSorry, but that’s still more interesting than the typical MINUTE of MLS play.

I have learned to appreciate soccer, just as I have learned to appreciate hockey and other sports that require a ton of skill and athletic prowess. I just kills me however to see a lack of scoring oppotunities. There is nothing worse to see than a team moving the ball effectivly near the goal only to get a offside call near the box. My fix to this problem for soccer is to eliminate the ‘offside’ call once the ball goes over mid field. This would open up a lot more scoring chances and give the opportunity for your more elite players to show off their skills in the open field. This would put defenders on their toes and stop them from ‘cheating up’ to get the offside pentalty call. As exciting as 0-0 tie is going into the 90th minute, I think the majority of Americans would like to see more scoring and make the sport more watchable.

The World up is a totally different story! I just hate soccer and I never watch except when your nation is playing at the World Cup. Hope the US will get far in the upcoming finals. So good luck tomorrow with Ghana!

Forget soccer! Man I hate soccer! Just kdding, I never watch it or read about it or comment about it. Well I guess I just did. I will tune in today because the hype around the office and on the radio is like never before. I will always say GO USA!!!!!

Is it just me, or does Landon Donovan look like that toe sucker who won Flavor Fav’s sloppy seconds on I Love New York? If a guy like that can pull a higher Q Score than a country’s most recognizable sports figure, well, that’s a sport I have little interest in. But hey, enjoy.

Good post LZ. For me anytime there are flags on jeseys it’s go-time. You hear the saying God-Country-Family but I’ve never really heard God-City/University-Family in terms of order of importance. That’s why the WC is so cool. Every moment means so much. I agree with your comments on the radio about the MLS…it seems like minor leagues. I can’t watch it. Notice how almost all of our players on the US Mens team are now based overseas? One cool thing since the 2006 WC is that the Fox Soccer Channel is now widely available on most mid-tier cable packages. Last year we had Donovan, Dempsey, Howard, Holden, Altidore all playing in the EPL. If someone wants to continue watching soccer post WC and follow US players against the best competition, you can follow the EPL every week from September-April. The time difference between Europe and Houston makes for a perfect sports weekend. I can follow the games with US players saturday-sunday morning and then the NFL and College football come on in the afternoon.